Local News

Jean Ghent never saw her mom, kill a York County policeman at a traffic stop on July 17, 1932, outside Fort Mill, but she was there.

For that matter, Ghent never saw the faces of the York County jurors some five months later who convicted the late Baetrice Snipes of the crime. She never heard Judge Thomas Sease bang the gavel that day when he sentenced Snipes to death by electrocution for the murder of officer Elliott Harris, but she undoubtedly felt her mom’s heart rate quicken. After all, she was only inches away.

Moving back and forth in front of the podium, sometimes pointing at various Lancaster County Council members, Francis Bell had a lot to say about a proposed county-wide smoking ordinance at council’s Monday, Sept. 24, meeting.

Bell, a Lancaster native, local attorney and former Lancaster County Council member, objected to the potential ordinance which, if approved after one more reading, will prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces throughout the county. This includes restaurants, bars, retail stores, libraries and public areas of businesses.

Eight Buford Middle School students have been charged in connection with a gang, whose members intended to retaliate against bullies on behalf of their victims.

Lancaster County Sheriff’s Maj. Matt Shaw said the 13- and 14-year-old students, seven of them members of a group calling themselves “White Mafia 14,” were taken into custody Sept. 20 after school officials learned of a fight in a school bathroom.

No one was seriously injured when a car rear-ended a Clinton Elementary school bus on Flat Creek Road Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 26.

Lancaster County School District officials said the accident occurred around 5:45 p.m. as the bus stopped to drop off one of nine students on their way home after the Homework Center after- school program.

District safety and transportation director Bryan Vaughn said Emergency Medical Services was called to the scene, but none of the students or the car’s driver were seriously injured.

A traffic stop led to trafficking-cocaine charges for a Lancaster man.

Lepoleon Hall, 35, 2347 Douglas Heights, was arrested Thursday, Sept. 20, on charges of trafficking cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, unlawful carrying of a handgun and driving under suspension, second offense, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office press release.

At some point in most people’s lives, the idea of fitness and “getting in shape” sits in the forefront of the mind. In recent years, the health and fitness industry has seen an increase in the number of senior citizens wanting to exercise.

Are you registered to vote in November’s general election? Do you know where your polling place is?

If you can’t answer yes to both questions, you may need to be at Lancaster Municipal Park (off Chesterfield Avenue) on Saturday, Sept. 29, for the “Fourth Quarter Rally.”

That’s where a voter-registration drive will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Concerned residents in the community have organized the event as a fun, informative and informal way to help ensure more people are registered to vote in the Nov. 6 election.

Following the state- and national-level trend, average SAT scores for college-bound Lancaster County high school seniors slipped slightly this year with only one high school showing a slight increase.

The SAT is one of two widely accepted national college-entrance exams. Redesigned in 2005, the test consists of three sections: critical reading, math and science, which are scored on a range of 200 to 800 points for a perfect score of 2400.